Planetary Climate Dynamics

Abstract:

A large fraction of known terrestrial-size exoplanets located in the habitable zone of M-dwarfs are expected to be tidally locked. Numerous efforts have been conducted to study the climate of such planets, using in particular 3D global climate models (GCMs). One of the biggest challenges in simulating such an extreme environment is to properly represent the effects of sub-grid convection. Most GCMs use either a simplistic convective-adjustment parameterization or sophisticated (e.g., mass flux scheme) Earth-tuned parameterizations. One way to improve the representation of convection is to study convection using numerical convection-resolving models (CRMs), with a fine spatial resolution. In this study, we developed a CRM coupling the non-hydrostatic dynamical core Advanced Research Weather-Weather Research and Forecast model with the radiative transfer and cloud/precipitation models of the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique generic climate model to study convection and clouds on tidally locked planets, with a focus on Proxima b. Simulations were performed for a set of three surface temperatures (corresponding to three different incident fluxes) and two rotation rates, assuming an Earth-like atmosphere. The main result of our study is that while we recover the prediction of GCMs that (low-altitude) cloud albedo increases with increasing stellar flux, the cloud feedback is much weaker due to transient aggregation of convection leading to low partial cloud cover.

Abstract:

Finding and characterizing extrasolar Earth analogs will rely on interpretation of the planetary system's environmental context. The total budget and fractionation between C-H-O species sensitively affect the climatic and geodynamic state of terrestrial worlds, but their main delivery channels are poorly constrained. We connect numerical models of volatile chemistry and pebble coagulation in the circumstellar disk with the internal compositional evolution of planetesimals during the primary accretion phase. Our simulations demonstrate that disk chemistry and degassing from planetesimals operate on comparable timescales and can fractionate the relative abundances of major water and carbon carriers by orders of magnitude. As a result, individual planetary systems with significant planetesimal processing display increased correlation in the volatile budget of planetary building blocks relative to no internal heating. Planetesimal processing in a subset of systems increases the variance of volatile contents across planetary systems. Our simulations thus suggest that exoplanetary atmospheric compositions may provide constraints on when a specific planet formed.

Abstract:

The recently adopted Ariel ESA mission will measure the atmospheric composition of a large number of exoplanets. This information will then be used to better constrain planetary bulk compositions. While the connection between the composition of a planetary atmosphere and the bulk interior is still being investigated, the combination of the atmospheric composition with the measured mass and radius of exoplanets will push the field of exoplanet characterisation to the next level, and provide new insights of the nature of planets in our galaxy. In this white paper, we outline the ongoing activities of the interior working group of the Ariel mission, and list the desirable theoretical developments as well as the challenges in linking planetary atmospheres, bulk composition and interior structure.